Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009: Study Technical English and get information about new technologies.

Number 36                                                                                 January 2012

Editorial

Despite the English language comprises12 tenses, only several of them are frequently used, especially in technical English. The brief review of English tenses you can find in Conjugate verbs at my new blog Technical English Remarks.

In technical English texts the Present Simple and Past Simple tenses are vastly applied. That’s why the following Technical English Exercises are devoted to these tenses. The first two exercises are built on the base of the technical text Search engine – essential information. The last exercise uses a technical text International markets, which is topically closed to the main text, i.e. to the just mentioned technical text from Why Technical English.

Just for reminding all tenses in English the table with them is repeatedly placed here, too. See it carefully.

In Exercise 1 your are given infinitives of propre verbs and your task is to use the Simple Present or Simple Past for the verb. In Exercise 2 you should make questions, using appropriate auxiliary verbs if necessary. Refresh in your memory, how English question sentences are built visiting Number 18 – Use RULE 1-2-3 for questions / March 2010. Exercise 3 gives you the opportunity to choose appropriate verbs in the Present Simple or Past Simple tenses from the table below the title of the text  and put them in the right place.

Compare your solutions with keys in Keys to Internet English. Technical terms and expressions, possible abbreviations connected with both mentioned texts could be found in the enclosed technical English vocabulary, i.e. Internet English Vocabulary.

Technical English Exercises

Exercise 1  Put verbs in brackets at the end of each sentence into correct tense:

1.  Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ▪▪▪ to maximize profitable traffic from search engines to websites.   (to aim)
2. Graduate students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, ▪▪▪  a mathematical algorithm for a search engine to rate the prominence of web pages.  (to develop)
3. PageRank ▪▪▪ the likelihood that a given page will be reached by a web user who randomly ▪▪▪ the web. (to estimate, to surf)
4. Page and Brin ▪▪▪ Google using the developed algorithm for searching in 1998.  (to found)
5. Google ▪▪▪ immediately the growing number of Internet users due to its simple design.   (to attract)
6. Many sites ▪▪▪ on exchanging, buying, and selling links, often on a massive scale.   (to focus)
7. In 2007, Google ▪▪▪ a campaign against paid links that transfer PageRank.  (to annonce)
8. Adding relevant keywords to a web page meta data ▪▪▪ to increase traffic to the page.     (to tend)

  Exercise 2  Make questions beginning with given expressions in bold:

1.  The success and popularity of a search engine is determined by its ability to produce the most relevant results to any given search.   WHAT … BY?
2. Search engines with more complex ranking algorithms, taking into account additional factors have been evolved.     WHAT ALGORITHM …WITH?
3. The number calculated by the algorithm, has been named PageRank after Larry Page.      WHO … AFTER?
4. In Google off-page factors as well as on-page factors are considered.     WHAT FACTORS …?
5. Webmasters had developed link building tools to influence search engine results.   WHAT TOOLS …?
6. Google Instant, real-time-search, was introduced in late 2009 in an attempt to make search results more timely and relevant.     WHEN …?
7. Site administrators have spent months or even years optimizing a website to increase search rankings.  HOW MUCH TIME …?
8. A variety of methods can increase the prominence of a webpage within the search results.     CAN …?
9. Cross linking between pages of the same website or blog may improve its visibility.     MAY …?
10. Updating content keeping search engines crawling back frequently can give additional weight to a site.     CAN …?

Exercise 3  Put verbs in the table below into an appropriate place:

International markets 

Optimisation techniques are highly tuned to the dominant search engines in the target market. The search engines market shares … (1) … from market to market, as does competition. In 2003 Google … (2) … about 75% of all searches. In markets outside the United States, Google’s share is often larger, and Google … (3) … the dominant search engine worldwide as of 2007. As of 2006, Google … (4) … an 85-90% market share in Germany. While there were hundreds of SEO firms in the US at that time, there were only about five in Germany. As of June 2008, the marketshare of Google in the UK was close to 90%. That market share is achieved in a number of countries.

As of 2009, there are only a few large markets where Google is not the leading search engine. In most cases, when Google is not leading in a given market, it … (5) … behind a local player. The most notable markets where this is the case are China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the Czech Republic where respectively Baidu, Yahoo! Japan, Naver, Yandex and Seznam are market leaders.

Successful search optimization for international markets … (6) … professional translation of web pages, registration of a domain name with a top level domain in the target market, and web hosting that … (7) … a local IP address. Otherwise, the fundamental elements of search optimisation are essentially the same, regardless of language.

In conclusion I highly recommend looking through the quiz Present Simple (total number of sentences makes 16). It will help you better remember peculiarities of this tense.

GOOD LUCK !

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               PS: Dear visitor, if you want to improve your professional English and at the same time to gain basic comprehensive information about the Internet and Web, subscribe to this blog “Train Technical English”.

Look at the right sidebar and subscribe as you like:

• by Email subsription … Подписаться письмом
• Subsribe with Bloglines

 Related articles

• Will a web design company assist with SEO strategy? (marketing.yell.com)
• SEO Services That Make Sense (ronmedlin.com)
• Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and Google’s Rankings are Remarkably Well Correlated (seomoz.org)
• 15 Takeaways about Google and SEO from Matt Cutts (greatfinds.icrossing.com)
• SEO tricks from Patio11 (melmiranda.com)
• The importance of Twitter as part of your Online Branding and SEO (mediasocial.co.nz)

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009: Study Technical English and get information about new technologies.

Number 35                                                                                 December 2011

Editorial

Within preparation of the e-book Internet English (its intended content is given in Number 33 – WWW, Part 1 / August 2011) let us continue in discussing the topic concerning website basic information (see Website – basic information). The discussion is aimed at developing an individual vocabulary and extending it by technical terms and expressions typical for this theme.

So, Exercise 1 is devoted to completing word formation charts by filling in gaps with a proper form of absent words. In general, the word formation charts provide the concept noun, personal noun, adjective and verb forms of key vocabulary.

The following three exercises deal with comprehension of texts about a website and with right selection of appropriate words. In Exercise 2 proper words are given in the box and they are supposed to be put in the right place in the subsequent text. In Exercise 3 a proper expression for filling in gaps in the text about Cookies should be chosen of four possibilities. Exercise 4 is first of all about comprehension. If you understand the text, you will easily match the words in Column A to the expressions in Column B. New and unknown terms and expressions might be found in the Internet English Vocabulary. Keys to these exercises are in Keys to Internet English.

Exercises

Exercise 1  Word formation charts – fill in gaps with a proper form of the word:

Exercise 2   Fill in the gaps using words from the table below:

Most websites ▪▪▪ (1) ▪▪▪ as a simple homepage accessible through the original URL. The homepage is, in essence, a portal to the ▪▪▪ (2) ▪▪▪ of the information or ▪▪▪ (3) ▪▪▪ contained within the website. The homepage and all that it contains is linked to other ▪▪▪ (4) ▪▪▪ and often other websites though ▪▪▪ (5) ▪▪▪ contained within tabs or text. All of the linked pages within a single domain name make up the entire website.

Website ▪▪▪ (6) ▪▪▪ can vary considerably. While the Internet might have once been the domain of ▪▪▪ (7) ▪▪▪ interests, it is now available to all manners of users. Family websites with vacation ▪▪▪ (8) ▪▪▪ are hosted by the same server companies as major commercial ▪▪▪ (9) ▪▪▪ . This says nothing of the many service organisations, blogs ▪▪▪ (10) ▪▪▪ sites and news organisations comprising pages of the World Wide Web.

Exercise 3   Decide which answer (A, B, C, D) best fits each gap:

HTTP cookies

Sometimes known as web cookies or just cookies, are parcels of the ▪▪▪ (1) ▪▪▪ sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. HTTP cookies are used for authenticating, tracking, and maintaining ▪▪▪ (2) ▪▪▪  information about users.

Cookies have been of concern for Internet privacy, since they can be used for the ▪▪▪ (3) ▪▪▪  of the browsing behavior. As a result, they have been the ▪▪▪ (4) ▪▪▪ to legislation in various countries such as the United States and in the European Union. Cookies have also been criticised because the identification of users they provide is not always ▪▪▪ (5) ▪▪▪ . Moreover, they could potentially be used for network attacks. Some alternatives to cookies exist, but each has its own drawbacks.

Cookies are also the subject to a number of misconceptions, mostly ▪▪▪ (6) ▪▪▪ on the erroneous notion that they are computer programs. In fact, cookies are simple pieces of data unable to ▪▪▪ (7) ▪▪▪ any operation by themselves. In particular, they are neither spyware nor viruses, despite the detection of cookies from certain sites by many anti-spyware products.

Exercise 4   Match the words in Column A to the expressions in Column B

Have you been enriching your vocabulary? Try to look  through Basic English  once more and find out how many words from this basic dictionary you know.

Do you remember Teacher Joe? Listen to him again and learn smooth English rhythm with this video.

GOOD LUCK!

 PS:  Dear visitor, if you want to improve your professional English and at the same time to gain basic comprehensive information about the Internet and Web, subscribe to this blog “Train Technical English”.

Look at the right sidebar and subscribe as you like:

• by Email subsription … Подписаться письмом
• Subsribe with Bloglines

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009: Study Technical English and get information about new technologies.

Number 34                                                                                 November 2011

Editorial

We are getting on with studying technical texts about the Internet. The other principal technical text on this theme is brought up on the blog http://techenglish.wordpress.com titled The Semantic Web – great expectations. Together with a short text Schema.org project supports building the Semantic Web in this Newsletter it forms a base for following three exercises. The first of the exercises reminds how to decide what to use so or such (see also Number 29 – Easy such and so / April 2011). Given the opportunity look through very nice quizzes on this theme in So vs Such, too. The next exercise is about synonyms. Your are encouraged to use as many synonyms in your writing as possible. Drop a look at Number 24 – SYNONYMS/ August 2010 and get inspiration in Synonym Finder. The word order in English is not too complicated. Nevertheless, it should be strictly kept when writing or speaking. Thus you are offered to do the last exercise for training correct usage of the word order. For refreshing appropriate rules see again Word order in English http://linguapress.com/grammar/word-order.htm and Number 15 – SVOMPT (Word Order) / November 2009. Compare your solutions with keys in Keys to Internet English. Technical terms and expressions, possible abbreviations connected with both above mentioned texts could be found in Internet English Vocabulary.

Schema.org project supports the Semantic Web

References:

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia
• http://schema.org/
• Waiting for the Semantic Web

Exercises

Exercise 1  In the sentences below use SO or SUCH:

1. ▪▪▪ an approach has been successful ▪▪▪ far in two major ways.
2. Adoption of ▪▪▪ Semantic Web principles has been somewhat limited.
3. ▪▪▪ sophisticated Web users have built a network of linked data, ▪▪▪ a system of linked datasets describing the same people, places, and things.
4. These new technologies are ▪▪▪ powerful that let sophisticated users find, share, and process data, as well as find related datasets.
5. ▪▪▪ specifications take different approaches to using tags to embed information about words, numbers, and other elements in web pages.
6. Unfortunately, most of all websites incorporate data, whose specifications are ▪▪▪ incompatible that could not be successfully searched by different search engines.
7. The Web is ▪▪▪ diverse that creating ▪▪▪ a single vocabulary, which addresses all markup needs, has not proven to be practical.
8. We are expecting the Schema.org will have ▪▪▪ an impact in the next few months.
9. Due to linked data searching for various content sources that address the same information has become ▪▪▪ easy.
10. But the specifications take ▪▪▪ different approaches to using tags to embed information about elements in web pages that they do not help much.

Exercise 2   Match proposed synonyms to words in the text:

Exercise 3  Make sentences putting the given words into a correct order:

1. an – Such – in – ways – so – has – approach – major – two – successful – far – been -.
2. principles – Semantic – Adoption – been – limited – Web – has – such – somewhat – of -.
3. linked – sophisticated – have – data – Such – users – of – Web – network  – built a -.
4. incorporate – are – all – of – Most – incompatible – so – specifications – , whose  – data – websites -.
5. vocabulary – needs – is - The – so – is – all – not – for – a single  – that – creating  – Web – practical – diverse -.
6. the – impact – positive – so – are – We – Schema.org - expecting  – be – will -.
7. approaches – help – to – different  – do – they – The – that – much – such – take – specifications – using  – not – tags -.

Do you remember Teacher Joe? Listen to him and learn smooth English rhythm with this video.

GOOD LUCK!

Related articles

• The Semantic Web – great expectations (techenglish.wordpress.com)
• Hello Semantic Web Universe! (seijikoide.wordpress.com)
• Siri and the Resurrection of the Semantic Web (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org)

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009: Study Technical English and get information about new technologies.

Number 33                                                                                  August 2011

Editorial

Dear friend of Technical English!

I taught Technical English for 11years at the Technical University in Prague on the Faculty of electrical engineering. Gradually I have been preparing technical texts concerning computers and the Internet, which are accompanied by exercises for development of communication skills, as materials for classroom presentations and essay writing.

Now I have decided to publish the texts as an e-book that can help professionals who need TE in their work and students to keep their knowledge of English and develop communication skills.

But before publishing I’d like to discuss the structure and the content of the e-book with subscribers and readers or visitors of my blogs http://techenglish.wordpress.com and http://traintechenglish.wordpress.com.

A draft of the e-book structure:

• Internet – historical review
• World Wide Web
• Internet Structure 
• Internet Backbone 
• Hypertext
• Website Characteristics
• Website Design
• Web Servers 
• Web Browsers
• Internet Service Providers and Web-hosting
• Internet Marketing

Each topic from the list above will make a unit comprising a main technical text, exercises, abbreviations, possibly a short text.

The main technical texts will be published on the blog http://techenglish.wordpress.com   while exercises, short texts, abbreviations, vocabulary will be placed on the blog http://traintechenglish.wordpress.com.

The vocabulary for all units will be placed on the page Internet English Vocabulary.

Thank you for your confident comments and estimation.               Galina Vitkova

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents that runs over the Internet. A Web browser enables a user to view Web pages that may contain text, images, and other multimedia. Moreover, the browser ensures navigation between the pages using hyperlinks. The Web was created around 1990 by the English Tim Berners-Lee and the Belgian Robert Cailliau working at CERN  in Geneva, Switzerland.

Image via Wikipedia

Architecture of the semantic Web

The term Web is often mistakenly used as a synonym for the Internet itself, but the Web is a service that operates over the Internet, as e-mail, for example, does. The history of the Internet dates back significantly further than that of the Web.

The text continues in “World Wide Web” on the blog http://techenglish.wordpress.com

 Exercises

Exercise 1   Make sentences putting the given words into a correct order:

1. pages – A Web – a user to – browser – enables – Web  – view – .
2. images – contain – Web – other – text – , and – pages – multimedia – may – .
3. navigations – Hyperlinks – used – pages – are – web – between – for – .
4. Berners-Lee – be the – Web – conceived the – Semantic – Web to – .
5. pages  – Web – include – Most – hyperlinks – .
6. server-name – The first – resolve – step, – , is to – IP address – the URL – part of – into an – of the  -.
7. HTTP – sent – A – to the – request – server – is  – Web – .

 Exercise 2   Choose correct answers to the questions beginning with the words in brackets:

1        By definition or by necessity, the Web has such a massive potential

           for social exchange.  (Why … ?)

• Why does the web have such a massive potential for social exchange?
• Why does have the web such a massive potential for social exchange?
• Why the web has such a massive potential for social exchange?

2        The Web is the most far-reaching and extensive medium of

           personal exchange to appear on the Earth.  (What … ?)

•  What is the web medium?
•  What medium is the web?
•  What medium the web is?

3        Some search engines such as Google or Yahoo! also store

          cached content from Web sites.  (What … ?) (subject question)

• What do some search engines also store from Web sites?
• What search engines store cached content from Web sites?
• What store some search engines from Web sites?

4        Unique resource identifiers locate a particular resource (a computer

          file, document or other resource) on the network (Where … ?)

• Where do URIs locate a particular resource?
• Where locate URIs a particular resource?
• Where URIs locate a particular resource?

  5        In the Client-server model of computing a server computer

             provides the client with data.    (What … with?)  

• What a server computer provides the client with?
• What provides a server computer the client with?
• What does a server computer provide the client with?

6        The HTML text is first requested and parsed by the browser. 

           (What … by?)

• a. What the HTML is first requested and parsed by?
• What is the HTML first requested and parsed by?
• What is first requested and parsed the HTML by?

7        More than 550 million documents on the Web  are mostly in

           the “invisible Web”.  (How many … ?)

• How many documents on the web are mostly in the „invisible web“?
• How many documents are on the web mostly in the „invisible web“?

 Find keys to the exercises on the page Keys to Internet English.

GOOD LUCK!

 Related articles

• How are the World Wide Web and the Internet different (wiki.answers.com)
• Are Internet and the World Wide Web the same (wiki.answers.com)
• ISOC-NY: Cerf, Berners- Lee Discuss the Future of the Internet (#ISOC) (nyconvergence.com)
• Waiting for the Semantic Web (bigthink.com)

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009: Study Technical English and get information about new technologies.

Number 32                                                                                  July 2011

Editorial

Dear friends of Technical English!

This number of the ViCTE Newsletter is mainly intended for Russian understanding visitors of this blog. Nevertheless, I believe that every non-native English speaker would like to improve their pronunciation. Thus just follow recommended hyperlinks hereafter and reveal inspiring impulses.

Galina Vitkova

Perfect English Pronunciation

Недавно мне встретился очень интересный сайт LearningToLearnEnglish.Com . На этом сайте оказалось много полезных материалов, касающихся английского произношения. Мне сразу подумалось, что стоит этот сайт порекомендовать читателям данного блога и помочь интересующимся быстрее в этих материалах разобраться, подчеркнув некоторые проблемы, которые я считаю чрезвычайно важными. Ведь не секрет, что люди с техническим образованием, не придают произношению большого значения и не уделяют ему внимания. Главное для них – это содержание того, что они сообщают, а там как-нибудь поймут. Это глубоко ошибочное мнение. Неряшливое произношение сразу же вызывает недоверие к тому, что Вы сообщаете. Как только Вы начнете говорить с некорректным произношением, делая, например, презентацию Вашей, даже очень стоящей работы, Вас сразу же перестают принимать всерьез. Пока Вы своим содержанием докажете обратное, т.е. докажете, что Вы серьезный человек и Ваше сообщение заслуживает внимания, может пройти много времени. Так что если хотите бегло и красиво говорить по-английски, познакомьтесь с советами  опытных и знающих людей, одним из которых несомненно является  Teacher Joe, автор уже упомянутого сайта.

Teacher Joe считает, что для овладения языком (не только произношением!) необходимо как можно больше слушать английскую речь, упражняться в произношении под наблюдением опытного преподавателя. Что же нужно конкретно делать для того, чтобы довести до совершенства свое произношения?

Это во-первых, прислушивайться к ритму англиской речи. Используйте для этого, например, коротенькое, но очень убедительное видео learn smooth English rhythm with this video.

Во-вторых, научиться правильно произносить английские гласные звуки, чтобы лучше освоить ритм и интонацию речи. Teacher Joe демонстрирует это в video to learn English vowels и Learn English Vowels, Lesson 2, где речь идет о гласных звуках, встречающихся в американском английском.   

Vowel chart of California English

В-третьих, научиться произносить согласные звуки в словах с затруднительным  произношением, как например, INSTINCT. Сначала произнесите каждый звук медленно IN-S-T-IN-C-T, затем немного быстрее   IN-ST-IN-CT, затем еще быстрее  IN-STIN-CT и наконец целое слово INSTINCT. Здесь важно начинать с медленного произношения, все время убыстряя его к концу. Попрубуйте таким же образом отработать произношение слов: IMPRESS, STRONG, ABSOLVE, EXPLAIN, ADMIRE, ADJECTIVE.

В-четвертых, писать диктанты по-английски. Прослушайте English dictations (всего 24 диктанта разной сложности). Постарайтесь понять и правильно написать каждое слово в каждом диктанте.

A comparison of the formant values of /iː æ ɑː ɔː ʊ uː/ for older (black) and younger (light blue) RP speakers. From de Jong et al. (2007:1814)

В-пятых, овладеть так называемым приемом Shadow Practice (Learn English pronunciation with “Shadow Practice”). Этот прием очень прост. В любое время, когда Вы слушаете английскую речь, шевелите губами, подражая автору, но не произнося ни звука. То есть Вы слушаете произношение говорящего, заставляя мускулы своего лица повторять движение мускулов лица говорящего. Кликните a fun and easy way to practice English pronunciation!. Тренируйтесь каждый день, и Вы заметите, на сколько легче Вам будет говорить по-английски. Руководствуйтесь при этом следующими советами:

• вначале не вникайте в смысл слов, стремитесь говорить все быстрее и быстрее, понимать будете потом;
• постарайтесь почувствовать себя коренным англичанином, представьте себя, например, в роли диктора на радио или телевидении; это Вам поможет уделять каждому звуку, каждому слову гораздо больше внимания, чем про обычном разговоре;
• будьте настойчивы, повторяйте упражнения понемногу каждый день и Вы обязательно добьетесь успеха.

В заключение, разрешите посоветовать снова прочитать текст Variability and intermittency of wind energy в вестнике ViCTE Newsletter Number 31 – Giving a definition / July 2011, на этот раз вслух, отрабатывая произношение с использованием только что изложенных рекомендаций.

Good luck!

Related articles

• The Pronunciation of the Word “The” (henrypoon.wordpress.com)
• Can My Pronunciation be Better? How Learning Stress Need Not be Stressful by Pavel Adamek (storybrand.wordpress.com)
• Grammar Gremlins: Defending varied pronunciations (knoxnews.com)

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009: Study Technical English and get information about new technologies.

Number 31                                                                                  July 2011

Editorial

Giving a definition

In technical texts we often need to give definitions to new or unfamiliar technical terms or vocabulary items and concepts, or to explain ideas specific for the subject that is discussed. Let us consider possible ways of giving definitions or explanations.

• Some expressions used to define a statement (i.e. a term, concept, idea) are as follows:   means, is taken to be, denotes, refers to, is defined as.    Example – Wind energy penetration refers to the part of electricity produced by wind compared with the total available generation capacity.      OR in an initial position:   by … we mean, by … is meant, in other words, that is (to say).     Example – By load shedding is meant an electrical power outage where electricity delivery is stopped for non-overlapping periods of time over geographical regions.
•  Another very common method is to give the term being defined and say what it is, i.e. X is/are Y possibly providing some distinctive characteristics.   Examples – Energy demand management (X) is the modification (Y) of consumer demand for energy through various methods such as financial incentives and education.  OR – Energy demand management, also known as demand side management (DSM), is the modification of consumer demand for energy through various methods such as financial incentives and education.
• One of the most frequent form of a definition is to use two nouns separated by comma.    Example – Transmission networks, a grid system, must already cope with outages of a generation plant and daily changes in electrical demand.

Studying the technical text below please take into consideration these notes and practice them when doing subsequent exercises. Moreover, I recommend drop a look at the text Intermittence of renewables for better understanding the topic. Learn by heart new technical terms and expressions. Doing exercises will help you to memorize them well. Keys to exercises are as usually found in Keys to Newsletters from Number 19 up to Number 31 .

Reference: English for Computer Science by Norma D. Mullen, P. Charles Brown, Oxford English, 1987

Variability and intermittency of wind energy

Electricity generated from wind power is highly variable at several time scales: from hour to hour, daily, and seasonally. Annual variations also exist, but it is not so significant. Like other electricity sources, wind energy must be “scheduled”. Wind power forecasting methods are used, but predictability of a wind plant output remains low for short-term operations.

Image via Wikipedia

Since instantaneous electrical generation and consumption must remain in balance to maintain grid stability, this variability causes substantial difficulties when incorporating large amounts of wind power (large penetration) into a grid system. The higher level of wind energy penetration the greater problems arise to incorporate wind power into a grid system.

The wind energy penetration refers to the part of electricity produced by wind compared with the total available generation capacity. There is no generally accepted “maximum” level of wind penetration. The limit for a particular grid depends on the existing generating plants, pricing mechanisms, capacity for storage or demand management, and other factors. Studies have indicated that 20% of the total electricity consumption may be incorporated with tolerable difficulty. These studies have been worked out for locations with geographically dispersed wind farms, or hydropower with storage capacity, demand management, and interconnection to a large grid area export of electricity when needed. Beyond this level, there are few technical limits, but the economic implications become more significant. At present (as of 2010), a few grid systems have penetration of wind energy around 10% or above: Denmark (21%), Spain (16%), Portugal (18%), Germany (9%) and the Republic of Ireland (14%).^[3]

Intermittency and the non-dispatchable nature of wind energy production can raise costs for regulation, incremental operating reserve, and require an increase in the already existing energy demand management, load shedding, or storage solutions or system interconnection with high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables. Transmission networks must already cope with outages of generation plant and daily changes in electrical demand. Systems with large wind capacity components may need more spinning reserve (plants operating at less than full load).^[[30]

Reference: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia

Vocabulary

Exercises

Exercise 1  Make sentences putting the given words into a correct order (expressions used for giving a definition or explanation are highlighted):

1. load – By – electricity – stopped – power – we mean – shedding – outage – delivery is – electrical – where – an -.
2. of – is the – management – demand – energy – modification – consumer -  demand – for – Energy -.
3. voltage – by the – national – networks – electric – transmission – UK – the high – In the – is meant – grid -.
4. technology – for  – High – voltage – direct – than – greater – transfer – electricity – refers to – current -  600 km -.
5. is taken to be – load – plants – Spinning – full – at less – than – reserve – operating -.

Exercise 2  Match technical terms in column X to their explanations in column Y:

Exercise 3  Make questions to highlighted parts of the sentences below:

1. By load shedding we mean an electrical power outage where electricity delivery is stopped.
2. Energy demand management is the modification of consumer demand for energy.
3. In the UK the national grid  denotes the high voltage electric transmission networks.
4. High-voltage direct-current technology refers to electricity transfer for very long distances, typically greater than 600 km.
5. Spinning reserve is taken to be plants operating at less than full load.

 And in conclusion, if you wish to improve your pronunciation and to gain knowledge about giving a good presentation, look at Secrets to Giving a Great Presentation in English. A short description of a situation:

Ken is doing a presentation. He isn’t very comfortable speaking in front of many people. He asks Adriana for some advice.

GOOD LUCK!

Related articles

• Intermittence of renewables (techenglish.wordpress.com)
• Two-thirds of consumers would pay more for products made with wind energy (chimalaya.org)
• Wind Energy Update: The Importance of a Safety Culture for Wind Turbine Technicians (prweb.com)
• US officials analyze effect of subsea power cables on marine life (gcaptain.com)

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009: Study Technical English and get information about new technologies.

Number 30                                                                                  May 2011

Editorial

Relationships between the causes and the effects can be expressed in different ways. Understanding these relationships is very important when reading English. If an argument begins with effects or results, the causes are the reasons that logically led to those results. This cause-effect relationship is commonly used in technical texts. So, look carefully at these important distinctions:

 A (CAUSE)   ▬ ► B (EFFECT) , i.e. A results in B  OR  A causes B

     Example: Bringing two nuclei close enough results in (OR causes)   pulling them together into one larger nucleus.

B (EFFECT)  ▬ ► A  (CAUSE) , i.e. B results from A  OR  B is caused by A

     Example: Pulling two nuclei together into one larger nucleus results from ( OR is caused by) bringing them close enough.

Often, the choice of verbs in a sentence will indicate a cause-effect relationship (e.g. result, cause, produce, allow, prevent, etc.).

For specifying a cause following connectives can be used:

due to, as the/a result of, since, because, in response to, as.

     Example: Hydrogen-3 (Tritium) occurs naturally in only negligible amounts due to its radioactive half-life of 12.32 years.

Sentence connectors applied to introduce a result can be as follows:

with the result that, so that, thus, therefore, consequently, hence, for this reason.

     Example: The D-T fuel cycle produces substantial amounts of neutrons. For this reason radioactivity is induced within the reactor structure.

Contemplate carefully the above mentioned notes and do exercises 1 and 2. Exercise 3 is about the correct word order in English sentence. Do it with appropriate carefullness, too. Consequently, study the text Fuel cycle in fusion reactors since all exercises are based on it  After doing exercises you may compare your results with the key in Keys to Newsletters from Number 19 up to Number 30.

Exercises

Exercise 1  Put appropriate connectors from the box below into gaps according to the text Fuel cycle in fusion reactors:

1. The basic concept behind any fusion reaction is to bring two or more nuclei close enough together, … (1) … the nuclear force in nuclei will pull them together into one larger nucleus.
2. If the input nuclei are sufficiently massive, the resulting fusion product will be heavier than the sum of the reactants’ original masses. … (2) … it  the reaction requires an external source of energy.
3. Fusion between the nuclei is opposed by their shared electrical charge. … (3) … some external sources of energy must be supplied to overcome this electrostatic force.
4. The temperatures required to provide the nuclei with enough energy to overcome their repulsion is a function of the total charge. … (4) … hydrogen, which has the smallest nuclear charge, reacts at the lowest temperature.
5. Helium has an extremely low mass per nucleon and … (5a) … is energetically favoured as a fusion product. … (5b) …, most fusion reactions combine isotopes of hydrogen to form isotopes of helium.
6. The deuterium-tritium reaction is favorable … (6) … it has the largest fusion cross-section, which leads to the greater probability of a fusion reaction occurrence.
7. Hydrogen-3 (Tritium) is also an isotope of hydrogen, but it occurs naturally in only negligible amounts … (7a) … its radioactive half-life of 12.32 years. , … (7b) … the deuterium-tritium fuel cycle requires the breeding of tritium from lithium.
8. Similar to hydrogen, tritium is difficult to contain and may leak from reactors in certain quantity. … (8) …, some estimates suggest that this would represent a fairly large environmental release of radioactivity.
9. After a single series of D-T tests at JET (Joint European Torus), the vacuum vessel of the fusion reactor became sufficiently radioactive. … (9) …, remote handling needed to be used for the year following the tests.
10. In a production setting, the neutrons react with lithium in order to create more tritium. This deposits the energy of the neutrons in the lithium, … (10) … it should be cooled to remove this energy.

Exercise 2  Make sentences from A (CAUSE) and  B (EFFECT) and underline verbs indicating a cause-effect relationship:

Exercise 3  Make sentences putting the given words into a correct order:

1. between – Fusion – charge – their – is -  the nuclei – shared  – by – electrical – opposed -.
2. mass – extremely – Helium – nucleon – low – per – has – an.
3. to – fusion  – Most  – helium – form -  isotopes of – combine – hydrogen -  reactions – of – isotopes -.
4. an – but it – is – (Tritium) – negligible – also – naturally – amounts – occurs – hydrogen, – of -  isotope – Hydrogen-3 – in only -.
5. tritium – and – Similar – leak – hydrogen, – may – contain – difficult to – reactors – from – to – is -.
6. tritium – In a – create – order  – in – lithium – production – the – neutrons – to  – more – setting, – with  – react -.

Vocabulary

Relax after doing exercises and then take the test to discover your English level for the workplace. The test is somewhat long but will help you to reveal your knowledge of English as it is used.

And as always visit for improving your pronunciation http://www.dailystep.com/content.asp?id=16     

It takes only few minutes.

GOOD LUCK!

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009: Study Technical English and get information about new technologies.

Number 29                                                                                  April 2011

Editorial 

 Such and so make meaning of adjectives and adverbs stronger. We use such with adjectives plus  nouns and we use so with adjectives / adverbs.

Exercise 1 and quiz So & Such are devoted to this problem. Exercise 2 is intended to revise words from the offered text. In Exercise 3 you will again revise a word order in question sentences (see the rule 1-2-3 in Number 18 – Use RULE 1-2-3 for questions / March 2010).

You find keys to all exercises in Keys to Newsletters from Number 19 up to Number 29. (But please do the exercises firstly!).

Good luck!

 Nuclear power – tokamaks

A diagram depicting the poloidal direction (the red arrow), and the toroidal direction (the blue arrow).

A tokamak is a device using a magnetic field to confine a plasma in the shape of a torus (doughnut). Plasma is a state of matter similar to gas, in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. Achieving a stable plasma equilibrium requires a magnetic field that moves around the torus in a helical shape (helix is a type of a space curve). Such a helical field can be generated by adding a toroidal field and a poloidal field (see picture 1) In a tokamak, the toroidal field is produced by electromagnets that surround the torus, and the poloidal field is the result of a toroidal electric current that flows inside the plasma. This current is induced inside the plasma with a second set of electromagnets.   

The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices, and is one of the most-researched candidates for producing controlled thermonuclear fusion power (see also Fission and fusion power in Number 28 – SVOMT revising/March 2011).

Magnetic fields are used for confinement because no solid material could withstand the extremely high temperature of the plasma. An alternative to the tokamak is the stellarator.

Tokamaks were invented in the 1950s by Soviet physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov, inspired by an original idea of Oleg Lavrentyev.

The word tokamak is a transliteration of the Russian word токамак, an acronym of either “тороидальная камера с магнитными катушками” (toroidal’naya kamera s magnitnymi katushkami) – a toroidal chamber with magnetic coils, or “тороидальная камера с аксиальным магнитным полем” (toroidal’naya kamera s aksial’nym magnitnym polem) – a toroidal chamber with an axial magnetic field.   

References: from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia

Vocabulary

Exercises

 Exercise 1   Put in so,such or such a(an):

1. •••  helical field can be generated by adding a toroidal and a poloidal magnetic fields.
2. Magnetic fields are used for confinement because no solid material could withstand ••• extremely high temperature of the plasma.
3. The tempereture of the plasma is ••• high that no solid material could withstand it.
4. ••• alternative to the tokamak is the stellarator.    
5. ••• toroidal electric current flows inside the plasma.
6. The cost of fuel makes ••• minor cost component in the overall cost of nuclear power that the price of uranium has little effect on it.
7. The cost of fuel is ••• lowly that the increase of the uranium price has little effect on the overall cost of nuclear power.

 Exercise 2   Choose an appropriate word from the table below and put it in the gap:

1. A magnetic field is used in tokamaks in order …(1)… a plasma in the shape of a torus.
2. Plasma is a state of matter similar to gas, in which a certain …(2)… of the particles are ionized.
3. In a tokamak, the toroidal field …(3)… by electromagnets that surround the torus.
4. The poloidal field is the result of a toroidal electric current that …(4)… inside the plasma.
5. The tokamak is one of the most-researched candidates for producing …(5)… thermonuclear fusion power.
6. Magnetic fields are used for confinement because no solid material could …(6)… the extremely high temperature of the plasma.
7. The word tokamak is …(7)… of the Russian word токамак, which is an acronym.

Exercise 3   Make questions beginning with the words in brackets:

1. This current is induced inside the plasma with a second set of electromagnets.  (What … with?)
2. Achieving a stable plasma equilibrium requires a magnetic field that moves around the torus.  (What kind of a magnetic field … ?)
3. Such a helical magnetic field can be generated by adding a toroidal field and a poloidal field.  (How … ?)
4. An alternative to the tokamak is the stellarator.  (What … ?)
5. Tokamaks were invented in the 1950s by Soviet physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov.  (Who … by?)

In the end try a quiz So & Such (44)

And if you need to improve your pronunciation, just listen to native speakers at http://www.dailystep.com/content.asp?id=16 

It takes only few minutes.

Good luck!

Related Articles

• Sebastian Kügler: I’m going to the KDE UX sprint, then Tokamak is coming to me! (vizZzion.org)
• Nuclear Fusion 2!!! (wakeupamerica01.wordpress.com)
• Magnetic Field Determines Whether Solar Flares Erupt or Fizzle (wired.com)

Helps professionals keep and improve their English through the Internet since February 2009

 Number 28                                                                       March   2011         

Editorial   

Word order is so important in English that it is worth revising it again and again. In the offered technical text you find useful and helpful information concerning two principles of nuclear power plants (NPP) operation, i.e. fission and fusion. Energy created during these processes is used to heat water to produce steam, which runs a turbine together with a generator that produces electricity.

You are offered a relatively long exercise (ten sentences) based on this text. Your task is to create sentences from given words a rule about correct word order in English (see ViCTE Newsletter Number 15 – SVOMPT (Word Order) / November 2009). At the same time you should revise the words used in the text.

Good luck

Nuclear power – fission and fusion

Fission.  Nuclear power stations use nuclear fission to generate energy inside a nuclear reactor. Atoms of the reactor uranium rods are split in the process of fission, releasing a large amount of energy. The process continues as a chain reaction with other nuclei. The energy heats water to create steam, which rotates a turbine together with a generator, producing electricity.

Depending on the type of fission fuel presumptions for existing supply at known level varies from several decades for the Uranium-235 to thousands of years for uranium-238. At the present rate of use, there are (as of 2007) about 70 years left of uranium-235 reserves at a uranium price of $ 130/kg. The cost of fuel is a minor cost component for fission power. More expensive, more difficult to extract sources of uranium could be used in the future. Even if prices increased enough, the price of uranium would have little effect on the overall cost of nuclear power. A doubling in the cost of natural uranium would increase the total cost of nuclear power by 5 %. On the other hand, if the price of natural gas was doubled, the cost of gas-fired power would increase by about 60%.   

Fusion.  Fusion power could solve many of the problems of fission power but, despite research started in the 1950s, no commercial fusion reactor is expected before 2050. Many technical problems remain unsolved. Proposed fusion reactors commonly use deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen) as fuel and in most current designs also lithium. Assuming a fusion energy output does not increase in the future, then the known lithium reserves would last 3000 years, lithium from sea water would last 60 million years, and a more complicated fusion process using only deuterium from sea water would have fuel for 150 billion years.

Practicable nuclear fusion appeared only 30 years ago whereas the idea was first proposed in the 1950s. Due to a joint effort by the European Union (EU), America, China, India, Japan, Russia and South Korea a prototype reactor is suppose to be constructed on a site in Cadarache

Image via Wikipedia

 (France) by 2018. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) aims to produce energy by fusing together the nuclei of hydrogen atoms, confined in a magnetic field at high temperatures – a process akin to that which powers the sun.

However, ITER has run into the earthiest of difficulties: spiralling costs. Initial projections in 2006 put its price at €10 billion ($13 billion): €5 billion to build and another €5 billion to run and decommission the thing. Since then construction costs alone have tripled.

As the host, the EU is committed to covering some 45% of these costs with the other partners contributing about 9% each. In May 2010 the European Commission asked member states to stump up an additional €1.4 billion to help keep the project through to 2013. The member states rejected the request. 

Reference: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia

Vocabulary

Exercise 

 Make sentences putting the given words into a correct order:

1. nuclear – power – fission – using – stations  – Nowadays – energy – nuclear – generate – .
2. split in – the reactor – rods in – of fission – are – the process -uranium-235 – Atoms of – .
3. small -  meltdowns – The possibility – accidents is – of nuclear – reactor  – and other – .
4. is in – nuclear – present, – At -  decline – energy – .
5. on a – (in France) – A prototype – is being -  reactor – constructed – Cadarache – site in
6. reactor is – The – by – be – supposed to – operation – 2018 -  put into – .
7. of – emphasizes – The – use – sustainability – energy – environmental – movement – .
8. electricity – nuclear – provide -  plants – Japan – Nowadays – third of – about a – .
9. hopes – industry – Nuclear – supporters – renaissance – nuclear – of a – had – .
10. need -  trustworthy – regulation – Nuclear – and – plants – transparent – .

And finally do the enlightening quiz  Word order (16 sentences)

 Good luck once more

Related Articles

• Nuclear enargy future after Fukushima (techenglish.wordpress.com)
• UK Fusion research advance and nuclear fission power in France and Brazil (nextbigfuture.com)
• How Nuclear Reactors Work, And How They Fail (layhitters.wordpress.com)
• Eugene Robinson: Fission — power beyond control (commercialappeal.com)
• FAQ: Nuclear reactors (cbc.ca)

 Number 27                                                                       January  2011         

Editorial

Let us return to countable (or simply countables) and uncountable nouns (or simply uncountables) again and look at them from the view point of some and any because it closely connected with usage of articles. I hope you remember how to distinguish countables from uncountables. If not, just drop a look at Countable and Uncountable Nouns Explained or at   Some details concerning a (an) and the. 

In general, “some” is used in positive (or affirmative) sentences with plural countable nouns and with uncountable nouns (in this case we don’t distinguish singular from plural) – see example in the text in the table below. Notice, “a” with singular countables corresponds to “some” with plural countables: a photovoltaic array – (some) photovoltaic arrays, etc.

 So, study the hot issue technical text below, do exercises based on the text, practice usage of “some” and perfect your English. Keys to all exercises are given in Keys to Newsletters from Number 19 up to Number 27.        (But please do the exercises firstly!)

Solar power               

Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Sunlight can be converted directly into electricity using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly with concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP installations typically focuses the sun energy to boil water which is then used to provide power. These installations  can utilize other technologies, such as the Sterling engine dishes, which use a sterling cycle engine to power a generator. Photovoltaics were initially used to power small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to off-grid homes powered by a photovoltaic array.

The significant problem with solar power is installation cost, although cost has been decreasing due to the learning curve. The learning means as individuals and/or organizations get more experienced at installation, they become more efficient at it with high probability. Following a progression of the learning first getting easier and then harder as one approaches a limit. A “steep” learning curve, in colloquial usage, usually means experiencing a large and increasing amount of effort for a constant amount of learning, i.e. approaching a natural limit. Much the reverse is the meaning of a steep slope in a learning progress curve.          

Image via Wikipedia

Developing countries in particular may not have the funds to build solar power plants, although small solar applications are now replacing other sources in the developing world.

Solar power is an intermittent energy source, which means that solar power is not available at all times. It is necessarily supplemented by another energy source, which brings about another significant problem with solar power.

References: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  http://en.wikipedia

Vocabulary

Exercises

Exercise 1    Put “some” everywhere it is possible. When it is impossible, put an indefinite article:

1. ••• sunlight can be converted directly into ••• electricity using photovoltaics.
2. ••• installations  can utilize other technologies, such as the sterling engine dishes.
3. ••• calculator is powered by ••• single solar cell.
4. ••• off-grid homes are powered by ••• photovoltaic array.
5. ••• significant problem with ••• solar power is ••• nstallation cost.
6. The more individuals or ••• organizations get experienced, the more efficient they become.

 Exercise 2   Fill in gaps in following sentences with a correct form of the words in brackets using the suffixes from the table of suffixes on the blog Number 25 – Word formation – suffixes/ September 2010 :

1. Solar power is the ••• of sunlight into electricity.    (CONVERT)
2. Sunlight can be converted ••• into electricity using photovoltaics, or ••• with concentrated solar power.    (DIRECT, NOT DIRECT)
3. Photovoltaics were ••• used to power small and medium-sized applications, from the ••• powered by a single solar cell to off-grid homes powered by a photovoltaic array.    (INITIAL, CALCULATE)
4. CSP ••• typically focuses the sun energy to boil water which is then used to provide power.    (INSTALL)
5. Photovoltaics were ••• used to power small and medium-sized •••.   (INITIAL, APPLY)
6. Solar power is ••• supplemented by another energy source. (NORM)

Exercise 3   Make sentence putting the given words into a correct order:

1. can – Sunlight – photovoltaics – electricity – converted – be – into – using – directly -.
2. other – can – Some – utilize – technologies – solar – installations -.
3. solar – calculator – powered – cell – The – single – is – a  – by -.
4. by – are – Off-grid – homes – array – photovoltaic – a – powered -.
5. cost – problem – The – with -  installation – power – is – significant – solar -.
6. more – individuals – they – experienced, – The – or – become – get – the more – organizations.

 And finally try the quiz  Some & Some of (10)

In order to improve your pronunciation by listening to native speakers just click http://www.dailystep.com/content.asp?id=16 

It takes only few minutes.

GOOD LUCK!

Related Articles

• Suntricity Power Energizes Heraeus Photovoltaic Business Campus (prweb.com)
• 200MW Solar Updraft Power Plant at Application Stage (solarfeeds.com)
• Emerson Wins Major Contract to Provide Inverters and Plant-Wide Controls for What Will Be California’s Largest Photovoltaic Facility (eon.businesswire.com)